The 42-year-old, who also played for West Ham, Manchester City and Everton, was arrested after 9lb of cocaine with a street value of £645,000 was discovered in a raid at a house he rented in Prescot, Merseyside, in May. He was sentenced at Liverpool

The court heard that the former midfielder had fallen on hard times since retiring in 1996. Ward's barrister, Nicholas Johnson, described how "the sporting hero" had become "a convicted drug trafficker".

He said: "When he played professional football he earned a good living, and at at the height of his career with Everton he was earning £1,200 a week. "But on retirement he had no healthy bank balance, no business interests and no rosy career as a media pundit."